the unsung heroines of sports history

Almost 40 years ago,
young head coach Cathy Rush and the Immaculata women's basketball team had
no idea the impact they were about to make in college sports.The Mighty
Macs had no scholarships, washed their own uniforms, carpooled to games and
had barely suitable facilities and equipment, yet somehow found a way to
overcome all of those obstacles, win three consecutive national
championships and set the wheels in motion for modern women's college
basketball's incredible growth. Hall of Fame coach Cathy Rush led a group
of women with only a common goal of loving the game to three national
collegiate championships. "As I walked into the gym that afternoon, there
was a standing-room-only crowd," Rush said. "We went from a few fans to
4,000 people on a Monday afternoon. It just shocked me. To me, that was
when everything sort of changed and Immaculata became a happening event."
Amazed, Rush began thinking about marketing the game and charging admission
in order to raise money for the program. Rush coached the Mighty Macs until
1977, and during the time the team became the first women's college
basketball team to play at Madison Square Garden, and one of the first two
women's squads to have a game broadcast on national television (against
Maryland in 1975). Players today don't sweep floors, wash uniforms, wear
tunics and second-hand shoes, find their own rides to games, or utilize
restrooms as locker rooms. But the Mighty Macs did. No one back in the
70's, including the Mighty Macs themselves, had any idea what an impact the
story of the Immaculata College program would have 40 years later.
(excerpted from "The One That Started It All" by Amy Farnum,
NCAA.com)#butchhistory